WALLA WALLA, Wash. – Facing the nationally-ranked Whitman Blues in the Sherwood Athletic Center, the Linfield Wildcats fell 82-63, as Delaney Ragan scored 13 points off the bench and Molly Danielson scored team-best 16 points.
 
Winning its third game in a row, Whitman improves to 15-3 overall and 7-1 in NWC play, while losing its second game in as many nights, Linfield falls to 10-7 overall and 4-4 in conference play.
 
The Blues, who are ranked No. 9 in the latest WBCA poll and No. 12 in the latest D3Hoops.com had a hot start to the game, leading 8-0 with Mady Burdett scoring five of those points.
 
Delaney Ragan came off the bench for the Wildcats, but was the star of the game early as she scored eight of Linfield's first 16 points in the game and had 11 in the first half. Scoring her first points of the game, she stole a pass on the other end and came down to score, which turned the first quarter around for the Wildcats.
 
The Wildcats matched the 8-0 run by the Blues to start the game, with a one of their own and tied the game at 10 on a layup by Molly Danielson, who was 4 for 6 from the field in the first-half, scoring eight points.
 
The leading scorer of Friday night's loss against Whitworth, senior forward Kory Oleson picked up two quick fouls, staying on the bench for much of the first half. Freshman forward Jordan Worthington appeared in a game for the first time since November 29, 2019 in the second quarter, she scored three points and two rebounds.
 
Like Oleson, Whitman's Burdett was also in foul trouble in the first half, playing just six minutes in the half.
 
Whitman extended its lead to 14 at the midway point of the game starting the quarter on a 13-4 run. The Wildcats scored the last four points of the half on layups by Ragan and Worthington and trailed 42-31 at the half.
 
Among the leading scorers in the Northwest Conference, the Blues' Makana Stone had 14 points in the first half and she scored 22 in the game.
 
The Achilles heel for Linfield was holding on to the ball committing 14 turnovers and Whitman scoring 13 points off turnovers.
 
Jordyn Feinauer scored seven points in the fourth quarter, but the Blues continued to stay ahead throughout the second half to win this one 82-63.
 
Ragan was a perfect 5 for 5 from the field and 3 for 5 from the stripe for her 13 points and three rebounds. She raised her season average to 10.2 points per game, which is second best on the team.

The Wildcats restricted the Blues to just five made three-pointers in the game, holding them to 26.3 percent from beyond-the-arc.

Oleson still leads the NWC in scoring with an average of 17.7 points per game, while Danielson is second scoring 17.1 points per game. Danielson is also second in rebounding with an average of 11.5 rebounds per game. Paige LaFountain had two assists in this one and she is 10th in the NWC in assists, while Cassidy Schutz is ninth. The two guards average 2.6 assists per game and 2.9 respectively. 
 
In the final minutes of the game, freshman guard Mariah Ohman made her collegiate debut, while Janessa Yniguez appeared in her first game since November 23, 2019. Yniguez made a three-pointer for her first collegiate points.
 
UP NEXT
The game against Whitman on Saturday started a three-game stretch for Linfield against teams that are either ranked or received votes in the latest D3Hoops.com taking on George Fox on Friday at 6 p.m. and Pacific at home next Saturday at 4 p.m. The Blues were ranked No. 12, the Bruins were ranked No. 20 and the Boxers received votes in the latest D3Hoops.com poll.